Shattering Glass
by TNTCrash
Summary: Information someone does not want getting out is loose. The mighty Project Icarus is used to find the persons with it and eliminate them. A freelance Runner's sister is killed and he wants revenge. How do you fight those who are hidden by the mirror?
1. Prologue

**Author's Notes: **I've had the idea for this story for a while now and after putting it off for quite a while it has evolved. Just so you know, there will be slow moments, there will be action sequences and there will be parkour, you cannot have Mirror's Edge without parkour right? ...Not as far as I know anyway. Anyhow this chapter is just a prologue so enjoy.

**Disclaimer: **Do I really have to write this? I mean, we all know I by no means own Mirror's Edge or any of its original characters, right?

* * *

Prologue  
The clouds covered the usually bright glossy city, covering it in an unusual atmosphere of foreboding. No rain had fallen since the clouds had come to settle over the city. They were just there, waiting, anticipating a threat that was imminent. A threat to what, was the question to be asked.

Such thoughts were not on the mind of the man in the suit however, nor his companion with the briefcase. They both walked with purpose through the large glass doors of the Serpix Corporation. The business had moved into the city about a year or two ago and already became very successful. The tall skyscraper that came close to doing as the name suggested was a testament to the company's success. The lobby was always busy, a hustling confusion of persons purchasing and selling stock, making investments and going to meetings. The corporation's symbol, a large snake binding a building of similar architecture with its fangs bared, stood mounted on the wall behind the counter.

The two men approached the counter, the man in the suit spoke to the receptionist, a middle-aged underpaid woman with a business smile on her face. He spoke a few words to her. She responded courteously. "Yes sir. You're expected. If you'll just wait over there," she motioned to some chairs occupied by other persons in the corner, "you'll be escorted to him in a few minutes." As the two men walked away she turned to the next man in a suit, who was demanding assistance; they were all the same to her.

The two sat across from each other, no words spent between them. The man in the suit contemplated all the possible ways the man they were about to meet could have obtained the information he currently held over his head. The man with the briefcase looked passively at the people on the street, not studying anything but his instructions, follow the man in the suit and hold on to the case.

The two were eventually approached by another man in a suit, wearing shades, their escort, probably security. He instructed them to follow them. When they had risen he turned and walked, taking them around the side of the receptionist's counter and through a metal detector. The two walked through calmly, no alarm was sounded. They turned right and the escort pressed the button to call one of the elevators on the farther down the wall with the metal detectors. The escort pressed the button for the sixty-seventh floor. The elevator began its ascent slowly and eventually picked up speed.

On the sixty-seventh floor, the vice-president of the Serpix Corporation, looked at his laptop. The image on-screen displayed the inside of the elevator occupied by the escort, the man in the suit and the man with the briefcase. He could not help but smile. A man like him had experience with a computer, and that experience often unearthed information people did not want going public. A little incentive, a little leverage, whatever negotiators preferred to call it, often got the company some heavy investors.

The elevator slowed to a halt. The small screen on the inside of the elevator displayed the number "67" in bright green. The elevator doors opened to a hallway. The escort exited the elevator. The two men followed him. They walked down the hallway and eventually came to a boardroom. Through the glass walls they could see a man sitting at a large desk, a laptop on it, smiling a scoundrel's smile as the escort opened the door and motioned the two men through the door.

"Thank you Pierce," he said addressing the escort. "That'll be it for now." The escort nodded and walked down the hall without a word. The vice-president, a man in his mid-thirties, rose from his seat and extended his hand to the man in the suit. The man shook it, if only out of the common pleasantries of business and introduction. "I take it you know why you're here sir."

"Your message was not exactly cryptic," the man in the suit said taking a seat. "Quite the opposite in fact. You made it quite clear what it was you had and what you wanted."

The vice-president returned to his seat, the glass behind him, displaying the vast expanse of the white city that stretched for miles. He turned his chair and looked out the window. "Strange weather don't you think? The clouds have been set up for about a day now."

"Please...," the man in the suit said. "Spare the small talk. Suspense tricks are below me. Your business has been in the city for about a year and a half now, it's unwise for you to have what you have and try to blackmail me."

"Yet here you are." The vice president turned his chair around to face the two men.

"Indeed. I assume you have what I've come for."

"Of course." He reached into his jacket and removed a square object that filled his hand. "It was quite the file. I had to put it on this," he showed them the external hard drive.

The man was boasting about his feat. He needed to learn the rules of the city were to be careful about what you do and to whom. The man in the suit looked at the hard drive. "How do I know it's on that."

"Show me the money and I show you the file itself."

The man with the briefcase, who had chosen to remain standing, placed the briefcase on the table. He flipped up the locks and opened the case, turning it to show the money to the vice president. The man smiled, satisfied, it was a start. He connected the hard drive to the laptop and opened the file, turning it in the same manner the man had turned the briefcase. The information on the screen scrolled; enough to satisfy the man in the suit.

"That's it."

"Of course," the vice president turned the laptop back to him. "If there's one thing I am, it's a man of my word."

The words barely escaped his lips, when the glass behind him shattered and his forehead was split, blood splattering on the two men across the table. The man in the suit lunged across the desk and yanked the hard drive from the laptop in less than a second and then ducked down in false panic, tucking the hard drive into his jacket as he did so. The lack of security cameras in the room where private meetings were held made it an easily executed task.

The man with the briefcase had closed the case the instant the man in the suit had lunged across the desk. He was now propelling the man in the suit through the door, close behind him. The escort ran to the room accompanied by several other men, all armed. The briefcase wielding man shouted, "Sniper!"

Everybody ducked low, the prospect of getting shot, the last thing on their priority list. The escort and the other armed men ducked, looking through the glass door to see the vice-president slumped over the desk, blood splattered across the room. For the first time in the last minute, some one noticed the glass that was the inside wall had shattered as well, a large gaping hole on the parallel wall in the second hallway to the right.

The men ran back to the two men, who were now anxiously pressing and waiting for an elevator to arrive. The man with the briefcase was talking rapidly on a cell phone, demanding a car be in front of the corporation's doors in the next two minutes with its doors open and an experienced driver. The escort ran up to them and looked at the man in the suit.

"Are you okay, sir?" he said, genuinely concerned for this most important of persons.

"I'll be fine if you can get this lift to move faster!"

As if on cue, the elevator opened its doors with its customary high pitched sound. The two men and the escort and another armed man quickly got into the elevator. It began its rapid descent to the lobby. The two armed men replaced their pistols in their jackets, hidden from view of the persons in the lobby as the doors opened. They rushed the two men through the oblivious lobby. Few heads turned as most knew that in this city looking at strange occurrences for more than five seconds made one guilty by association.

The man in the suit and the man with the briefcase quickly got into the car waiting out front. The two escorts closed the doors and the car sped off, merging with traffic. It was about five minutes before the man in the suit spoke. "Okay, you can slow down I think we've gotten far enough."

He removed the external hard drive from his jacket and handed it to the man with the briefcase, who removed a laptop from beneath the money in the case and turned it on. He connected the hard drive and began checking the data. After a few minutes he muttered a profanity. The man in the suit looked at him.

"What?"

"Damn internet."

"What's wrong?" The man in the suit looked at the laptop.

"The data is still registered as being in Serpix's data network. Someone is hacking it."

"Can you trace it?" The man in the suit knew the answer to the question but the question itself still needed to be answered, it gave him a greater sense of security.

"Yeah, hold on." The man began typing feverishly, his face concentrated on the screen. Windows opened up on the screen displaying various data streams and one with an overview of the city getting smaller and smaller. He cut off the opposing hacker's connection and the hacker ceased his activities before the location could be zeroed in.

The man in the suit noticed his companion had stopped typing. "You get him?"

"We need to have a meeting."  


* * *

**EDIT:** I realised that a building with 94 floors seemed a little too tall so I made it a bit shorter.


	2. Chapter 1

**Author's Notes:** I know the Mirror's Edge section is sparsely populated but I'll choose to continue this story. This is my new top project so updates will be coming as soon as I am able.  
**  
Disclaimer:** I do not own Mirror's Edge. This game belongs to the developers at DICE. The characters: Faith, Kate, Mercury, Jackknife, Celeste and Drake belong to DICE(This is not the full list of characters from Mirror's Edge that will appear in the story). All others came from somewhere in my mind... I think.

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**  
****Chapter 1**  
The vast expanse of the white city spread out before Jonathan, blanketed by menacing clouds that had not released a single drop of rain since they settled overhead. The quiet sounds of the street drifted up to his twelve-storey perch, the air brakes of a bus below, the engines of cars on the streets. A plane flew overhead, its engines drowning the low keyed symphony, an interlude of the city's more common sounds. He looked across at the billboard on the other building. The plane passed. The city's spontaneous composition continued.

Jonathan watched the people of the city from the roof, going about their daily existences. He both hated and loved this city. There existed in the city a level of control that certain people found extremely restricting, resulting in a level of chaos—low-key, very organised and definitely present—that required the services of a Runner, for him, freelance. He had to admit he loved running. He had no ties or connections with any other Runners however—less loose ends—making his job significantly easier. The coming about of the control which generated the job, included the loss of his mother. As always, Jonathan came to the conclusion that he hated the city more than he loved it.

The city however, was not the problem, it was its residents; those who chose to live a simple existence conforming to the restricting boundaries and laws which would govern a person's existence from birth until death. A life with no boundaries was only a dream to everyone in the world. A life with everything controlled was a prison. That was what the city was to him, a prison. A confined location where everyone was monitored and kept under control. The prisons of this city were not in themselves prisons, but simply confinement for those who required a higher level of surveillance. A white-walled prison. The light reflected so everything could be seen.

Well... not everything. Runners were those who refused to conform and he was one of them, just not with them. He preferred a solitary existence—life. Runners avoided the streets and transported messages to those who preferred the old city. They were almost invisible. _He_ was invisible. Runners saw the rooftops as pathways. He saw everything as pathways whether street level or roof level. One just needed the right tools to get by.

He checked his watch. 10:12, time to get moving. He put on his shades and earphones and pulled his scarf over his face. Since he was alone, he needed ways to check Blues traffic and find pathways. The shades and earphones did just that, with the help of the hand-held computer on the inside pocket of his jacket. The shades were a combination of a prototype programme ripped off the Blues network and the shades themselves, the result of a client in debt who happened to be supplied with military hardware. The programme, which utilised an up-to-date GPS system and the up-to-date architectural files of all the city's secured buildings, which happened to be 90% of the city, displayed the structure of the buildings in 3-D. It allowed him to see through walls, in a sense. It even magnified in the left lens at the touch of a button, making it easier to find paths. The earphones simply monitored Blues traffic in the area. It helped to know where your enemies were.

He backed away from the edge of the building. Alex's place was due northwest a few blocks. He made sure his bag was securely strapped across his back, the single strap crossing his chest. Regular Runners preferred to run without extra weight. He actually preferred it, for the sake of knowing he would be faster without it and because of what he kept inside. It did not weigh much anyway. His second bag was much similar to the Runner bag, commonly used to transport messages. It had a single strap he slung across his chest in the same direction as the other bag, from his right shoulder down across his chest. It held several pockets for containing whatever documents and other sensitive materials his clients saw fit to have him transport as long as he watched them put the item or items in the bag themselves. It was a darker colour than the bright yellow the Runners use, making it more easily hidden in an emergency. The bag rested on his hip, out of the way.

He turned and began sprinting across the rooftop. When he came to the edge of the roof he jumped, crossing the gap that was the alley below and dropped to the roof of the next building one storey lower. As he continued on, his mind came to study the two—no three things that he would have to avoid as he ran. First, the CPF, City Protection Force, or Blues as they were more commonly known. This was a given considering they shot first and asked questions after, if you had not fallen off a roof or died from internal bleeding, given they could hit you in the first place. Secondly, other Runners since they would ask too many questions he would refuse to answer anyway.

He vaulted a pipe and a vent and wall ran across a billboard to get to the next building. He climbed a pipe on the side of the taller part of the building that extended from the roof and came to a higher roof. He continued on. Thirdly, Project Icarus. A special branch of the Blues that dealt with Runners by actually running. Mayor Callaghan's solution to the Runner problem and their hidden clientele. A joint CPF Pirandello/Kruger operation. There was not much doubt there since, not only was PK the largest security firm in the city but, they supplied the CPF with all of their equipment.

He vaulted over a fence and ran along the large AC vent on the roof and used the height to get to the next roof, coiling over the railing. It had been by sheer luck and random frequency checks to get all of CPF's signals that he stumbled across the Icarus frequency. After some researching, using his clients as sources, he determined they could be a problem, though not a big one since they were not enough to cover the entire city at length. A good Runner took months to make and even then they could still fall, or get shot.

He rolled when he dropped down to the smoking deck of a much taller building. It was not time for lunch yet so people were not out smoking yet. He pressed a button on the frame of his shades. He could see the layout of the inside of the building. He searched for the stairs. Turn left, the end of the hall, the door leading to the stairwell. According to what he saw, there were no cameras in the stairwell and the one camera in the hallway was on the corner. He listened through the door, no footsteps. He opened the door a crack and looked down the hallway, the camera was pointing down the adjacent hallway. He moved that instant, past the opaque walls of the persons in their offices and reached the end of the hall in a matter of seconds. The camera turned to face the hall he had just come from and he opened the door and began his ascent up the stairs.

As he climbed the stairs his thoughts remained on Icarus. He had encountered a few of the Icarus Runners about three weeks back. A few shots from a gun he had stolen from a patrol cop who dared to get in his way and three went down. The last one was unlucky enough to be thrown from the roof. Jonathan had made sure to vanish, stash the bag and call his client, informing him that the bag would be delivered the next day when the heat had died down.

He reached the roof. He switched off his shades and looked for a conduit to the next roof. He had to cross the street. He looked to the next building. He was lucky enough to find a crane present on the roof of the building since it was being renovated significantly. He sprinted across the roof and jumped, landing on the crane's arm and continued down, sliding on the lower part of the arm to slow down.

A few more rooftops and he was on the roof of Alex's apartment building, a small white seven-storey building with little to no cameras. He opened the door to roof access and climbed down the stairs to the fifth floor. He opened the door into the vacant hallway, lined with rooms on the right and left. He made his way down the hall and made a right, continued on and made another right into the next hallway. He found the door with the numbers 516 on it and knocked three times, scanning the brown hallway as he did so. He heard the latches and the locks being unlocked on the other side of the door and scanned the hallway again. He saw Alex's face through a crack in the doorway and nodded, pulling down the scarf so that it settled around his neck and revealed more of his face. The door opened all the way and he stepped inside. Alex looked into the hallway, up and down, and then pulled himself back inside, locking the door as he did so.

As Alex turned back into the room, Jonathan saw the pistol in his hand and instantly became alert, his carefree manner replaced with his more on edge self. Alex saw the change in Jonathan's features and apologised.

"Sorry Johnny," he said, walking past Jonathan and putting the gun on the table next to his computer. "I think I might be in trouble."

"Remove the clip," Jonathan said, his eyes quickly scanning the room and resting on Alex's nervous movements and the gun on the table. His ears listened for anything out of the ordinary.

"What?"

"And the bullet in the chamber." He looked at Alex, who had not moved. "Empty the gun," he ordered.

"Come on Jonathan. I could be in some deep shit here."

"Listen. Empty the gun or I take the package right back to Roscoe. He knows my rules. Clients with guns get no business or broken bones or more often than not, both."

Alex released a sigh and moved to the desk. Jonathan tensed prepared to move at a moment's notice the instant anything became out of the ordinary, from Alex's movements to the sounds of the street coming through Alex's window. Alex handled the weapon, removing the clip and the bullet in the chamber and placed them on the desk next to the gun. Jonathan relaxed slightly as Alex moved away from the weapon, still a nervous wreck, but an unarmed nervous wreck.

Jonathan removed his Runner bag and handed it to Alex. Alex opened the bag and removed its contents. He threw the bag on the couch and checked what had just been given to him. Positive that everything he wanted was there, he opened his desk drawer and removed an envelope. He handed it to Jonathan who was looking around the room. Jonathan took it and opened it and, using his free hand, counted through the number of hundred dollar bills. Two thousand dollars even, his standard pay. He removed his backpack and slid it into a hidden pocket on the inside.

He looked at Alex who was typing at his computer, looking at the paperwork from the bag. His hands were shaking. He turned and looked at Jonathan.

"What's got you so spooked?" Jonathan inquired.

"Johnny. I think I found something. I mean seriously found something."

"You _must've_ found something serious if it's got you so freaked out." Jonathan's eyes drifted for a brief moment to the gun.

"Yeah. I got it the two days ago—" Jonathan stopped him.

"I don't want to hear it. If it's got you so bad I don't want to get involved."

"Come on Johnny."

"Nope." Jonathan shook his head. "I'm gone." He turned and opened the door. He looked back while he stood in the doorway. "You better keep it loaded." He tilted his head to Alex's desk.

Jonathan left Alex and went back to the stairwell and emerged on the bottom floor a few minutes later, now wearing a blue jeans, brown jacket and a gray shirt. His gloves were removed and he still had his earphones in his ears except now he was listening to music. He was invisible among those he hated.

* * *

Faith lay on the couch in the abandoned cooling tower, their new hideout more than halfway across the city. Mercury sat typing away at his computer, tracking the other Runners that were out. Things had not changed as much as she thought they would. Running continued much as it had these past years. It simply required a new level of caution now that the CPF had better means of chasing them down. Runners now had to be more careful when approaching clients.

She palmed a deck of cards in her hand and watched the fan of the cooling tower spin. She heard Merc talking to another Runner over the comm. Merc. She had left him to get her sister. It was lucky that Drake had bailed from his hiding spot and gotten to Merc in time to save him.

There was a knock at the door. It had to be Kate, since she was the only one who did not come through the hole in the roof, but Faith picked up the gun from the coffee table just in case. She cocked the hammer and opened the door a crack. She saw Kate outside the door. Faith's eyes drifted to the bags in Kate's hands. She opened the door and let her twin sister in.

"Hey Faith."

"Hey sis."

"Were you planning to shoot me?"

"No. You know how it is."

"Yeah. Anything happen recently?" She raised her left hand with the bag in it and pointed at the computers.

"No it seems to be a little dull since I haven't heard Merc raise his voice."

Kate placed the bags across the room and sat at her own computer. She was now helping Merc monitor CPF chatter. It made the job easier to have two people monitoring the frequencies. It was hard to convince her at first but after making her realise that she could not do anything else, Faith managed to persuade her.

Faith safetied the pistol and replaced it on the desk. Kate spoke again.

"I guess they're keeping the Icarus Runners off the roofs because of the suspected rain."

"The clouds have been up there for three days now kiddo," Merc's deep voice broke in. He kept his eyes glued to the screen. "It hasn't rained yet, but I guess they're being cautious." The dark man turned to Faith. "Better for us, since business has been up because of it."

"I guess." Faith pushed the gun out of the way and began building a house of cards. Everything practically began with a house of cards—she had been building one when her sister got in trouble. Then Pope was murdered. Celeste, the bitch. She betrayed the Runners and set up Kate to go down for Pope's death two and a half months ago when Kate was still CPF.

She looked at Kate, who now had hair dyed a deep brown which she wore loose as opposed to her usual tight bun. She had begun to wear makeup to have slightly thicker eyebrows and longer lashes and wore contact lenses to change her eye colour. All of this was set up by Drake, tracker and supplier to most Runners.

They heard footsteps on the roof. Faith grabbed the gun and swept it through her house of cards—she should really start playing Solitaire—and pointed it at the hole in the roof. Merc had turned and pointed his gun at the hole too while Kate simply rested her hand on hers. A person descended through the hole.

"Easy guys. Expecting company?" Collin asked raising his hands after he hit the ground. Everyone in the room relaxed.

"Kid, this city is full of surprises." Merc turned back to his computer screens.

Faith replaced the gun on the table and gathered her cards back into a deck. She set them out for a game of Solitaire. It would definitely make things easier when she picked up her gun. Collin walked over to the mini-fridge and removed a bottled water. He sat in the chair across the room and turned to look through the shutters. He could not see much as usual, except for the NicPix billboard across the street.

Faith continued her Solitaire game peacefully. There has not been much to talk about recently. The news was, as usual, corporations making new deals, scientists making so-called technological breakthroughs and Callaghan's usual bullshit propaganda. Advertising, not news.

"Faith," Merc said. Faith looked up from the cards in front of her. "Got a job for ya. Need you to meet Ricardo for a hand-off." He handed Faith a comm as she walked past him. "Get to the apartment building on Everest. I'll guide you from there."

Faith hooked the comm on her ear, covering it with her now brown hair. She climbed through the roof and jumped to the next building, running along the ledge, with the reflecting glass next to her. She stopped and looked at herself. She knew no one could see her, the reflecting glass was simply for show. She now ran with a jacket on, to hide her Runner glyphs, she'd removed the one on her eye, but refused to removed those on her arm. Her hair was now the sort of brown that blended neatly with other people in the city—just another head in the crowd.

She turned from her reflection and continued running. As she approached the corner of the ledge, preparing to jump, her mind flashed back to Jackknife that night on the roof of the Shard. _You can't live on the edge your whole life Faith. Sooner or later you have to jump._ She jumped to the next building, landing safely on the roof. Maybe he was right. The edge had gotten sharper.

* * *

Laura Richards, daughter of Security Adviser to the mayor, Peter Richards, slowly opened the window of the apartment and climbed in. She looked around the room. It was its usual tidy self. She stood in the small part of the apartment that was the kitchen. The punching bag hung a few metres in front of the kitchen counter over a clear area to the left of the balcony door. The kitchen itself, was as always, spotless. Cups and dishes were stacked neatly behind the glass doors of the cabinets. The fridge hummed lowly to her right. The 42 inch flat screen TV was up against the far wall, a deep brown coffee table in front of it surrounded by a small suite. The saxophone case leaned against the wall next to the stereo system. She walked past the TV and opened the door to the left of it. The bedroom was practically the same way. The bed was against the far wall, the computer on the left wall, on a large desk. Next to it were several backpacks of different colours and designs. The closet next to the bed was partially opened, showing a variety of clothes steamed and hung up carefully. The steamer was pushed up next to the closet. The right wall had a single wide window with the curtains closed. Beneath the window were a few pairs of shoes, next to a chest-of-drawers.

A cat slow pranced out of the closet and stretched, the bell around its neck jingled lightly. Laura looked at it as it strolled over to her and rubbed up against her leg. She bent down and picked up the cat. It purred as she rubbed its head. The collar with the bell jingled. "Not now Elisa."

She put the cat down and it jumped onto the bed and curled up, ready to continue the nap, Laura had woken her up from. Laura sat at the computer and leaned back in the chair. "I wonder how long it'll be till he gets here?" she said softly, looking at the cat laying on the bed. Elisa raised her head from the bed as if to say _I don't know_ and then calmly closed her eyes. Laura released a sigh as she looked at her watch. 11:49.

_Hopefully he'll be back soon. I think I'll surprise him for making me wait._

* * *

Jonathan stepped off of the bus and walked the short distance to his apartment building. He walked inside, the music still in his ears and took the stairs up to the seventh floor. He walked to his apartment, the room at the end of the hall where it turned right down another hall, number 713, and removed his keys.

He unlocked the door and stepped inside. Something was out of place. He felt a draft coming through the kitchen and tensed—the window was open. He removed his earphones and shut the door, dropping his bag next to it. He checked the bathroom to his right. Empty. The main room was definitely empty. His bedroom. He walked to the door and opened it. He stepped inside cautiously. He heard a noise behind him and spun around. He grabbed the person's outstretched arm, slid his foot forward and tripped the person then threw them across the room.

"Jonathan!" Laura screamed as she flew through the air. Elisa jumped out of the way, just in time before Laura landed upside down on the bed, her feet on the pillows. She tried to get up, but then felt pressure on her shoulders and could see Jonathan staring at her intently upside down.

"Jade, how many times have I told you not to do that?" he asked, using her nickname.

"Today would make one hundred and forty-three I think," she answered lightly, still calming herself down from her flight.

Jonathan stared into her green eyes and then gave her kiss. Elisa jumped back onto the bed. Laura released a small "oomph" as the cat jumped onto her stomach, the exact spot in relevance to the bed where she was sleeping before. Laura started to move, upsetting the cat again. Jonathan laughed. Elisa jumped off of the bed and looked up at the two of them while Laura sat up.

"Don't look at me like that. It's his fault." Laura looked back at Jonathan.

Jonathan raised an eyebrow. "And how is it my fault when you're the person trying to jump people in the dark?"

"Because you threw me across the room."

"And you sneaked into my apartment."

"And why are we explaining ourselves to your cat?"

"I have no idea." The two of them started laughing. Elisa tilted her head and looked up at them with her glowing eyes. She walked over to the desk with the computer and lay down next to it.

Jonathan removed his jacket and hung it on the bed post. He turned on his computer and walked out of the bedroom, leaving Laura on the bed. He soon returned with his backpack in his right hand and was reaching in with his left. He removed the envelope containing his recently acquired pay and threw it on the desk next to the computer monitor.

"You were on a job?" Laura asked.

"Yeah." He checked the recent City Eye Channel News on his computer. Nothing new.

"This weather is strange isn't it?" she asked him, opening the curtains.

"I'm expecting some heavy rain when it starts."

She closed the curtains a bit and walked up behind him and reached her arms around him while resting her chin on his shoulder. She rubbed his chest. "Mmmm...I love it when it rains." She turned his head and kissed him. He returned the kiss, pulling her closer and turning the chair. He stood up reaching his arm around her waist and pulled her as close as he could into another kiss. Laura put her hands around his neck as she enjoyed the moment.

Elisa looked up at them from her nap. She walked out of the bedroom door and went to the balcony's glass door and lay down against it. Hopefully the two of them would not be able to wake her while she was out there.

* * *

**Author's Notes:** Thanks for reading. Please review. Anonymous reviews are allowed. Just a slow chapter to get into the minds of a few characters. The next chapter is going to be similar.


	3. Chapter 2

**Author's Notes: **A bit of the action starts in this chapter.

* * *

**  
Chapter 2**  
Laura opened her eyes blinking quickly, adjusting to the light in the room. She looked at Jonathan lying next to her. His hands were behind his head and he was staring up at the ceiling. She saw a glass of orange juice on the nightstand—he must have gotten up while she was still sleeping. The fact that he had gotten up was confirmed by her feeling his boxers on underneath the sheets. She nudged closer to him and put her head on his chest.

"What are you thinking about?"

"Alex had a gun today," he said simply.

Laura tensed at what she just heard. She knew Jonathan did not particularly like clients having weapons, especially after what happened eight years ago with his sister and Mr. Parchezzi. Parchezzi had Jonathan doing jobs against his nature for three years claiming he would kill Jonathan's sister if he did not do the jobs. He had been surprisingly patient with the man and dealt with the problem in a manner most would have found uncharacteristic. Only Laura and Jonathan's sister knew what happened.

"Something happened?"

"No. He was nervous though." He stopped and gave it some thought. "More nervous than usual." Jonathan shifted a bit. Usually things such as that did not bother him, yet here he was and it was constantly on his mind as though something bad was going to happen. "He said he hacked something serious and it had him spooked."

"Hmm," she said in an interested tone.

"I don't know why I'm worried about it so much."

"Well you haven't had a client with a gun in a while. Not even Carlos has guns out around you, and he's an arms dealer."

Jonathan's thoughts settled on the arms dealer for a moment, going over his profile of the man. Ex-military. Part-time mercenary in some other part of the world that had a name too long or complicated to pronounce. Eventual arms dealer. Surprisingly successful in this city. He could even get military and police hardware if you requested it. In fact, he was the one who had supplied Jonathan with his shades.

"Umm..." Laura began. "He still has your stuff from that time?"

Jonathan walked over to the window and opened the curtain a bit. The light from outside hit him in the eyes. Laura watched him. She knew why he moved to the window—he was hiding his eyes from her, but the light was not as intense outside as it usually was. She still saw his eyes change for a brief moment, for just a few seconds, as he relived that moment. There was a moment of tension, until finally he spoke.

"Yeah, he still has it."

She watched as he walked over to his computer desk and picked up a small bottle with painkillers in it. He shook out two and put the bottle back in the desk. He walked out of the room without another word. Laura heard the tap in the kitchen running and then shut off. She sat there in the bed, waiting, expecting. A few minutes later it came. The melancholy sound of Jonathan's saxophone filled the apartment—and no doubt a few others—as he fed his emotion into the instrument.

She walked out into the main room and went to the balcony door, still holding the bed sheet, dragging it behind her. She sat on the floor near the open door, covering herself with the sheet and watched Jonathan. The only time he was truly himself, even more than when he was Running, was when he was playing his saxophone. She glanced at the clock. Jonathan had often told her to always be aware of the time. It was something that stuck. 6:43.

He played into the night. The music continued, eventually losing its melancholy mood but remaining slow, emotional. Laura eventually dozed off, listening to her boyfriend's intoxicating music. Jonathan saw her sleeping wrapped up in the sheets on the floor. He smiled but continued playing. He believed in the saying, "Sleep is where you find it."

* * *

Laura awoke to find Jonathan sitting on the couch wearing full gear and sipping coffee while Elisa was curled up close to her. The cat stirred. Her eyes opened and she looked at Laura. Their green eyes met and the two stared at each other for a moment. Elisa stretched and Laura smiled at the cat. She looked at Jonathan.

"Early job?"

"Would've been earlier but I was waiting for you to wake up so I could leave."

Laura smiled again, this time at Jonathan. "Then don't let me keep you."

Jonathan finished his coffee and left the apartment while Laura wandered into the bathroom to take a shower. She then returned to the bedroom to put on some clothes. When she finished she walked into the kitchen and made herself some coffee. As she sat sipping her coffee, she turned on the TV. Nothing interesting—well nothing interesting that was actually allowed—was on the news. She settled for some random early morning miniseries.

Jonathan stood on his rooftop. Again, not a drop of rain had fallen overnight. He took it as a sign that he had better get moving, just in case it decided to rain soon. He had halfway reached Roscoe when a helicopter passed overhead. Jonathan, ducked under a large air-conditioning unit on the roof and waited. The sound of the helicopter retreated and he moved again, jumping to the next roof. He continued on. The CPF channel spoke only of patrols, nothing else.

He made the final jump to a roof and climbed down the fire escape in an alleyway. He walked a few blocks to a nearby park and sat on the bench. He removed his shades and looked up at the overcast sky. Why was it there? Such unusual weather.

A few minutes later, a man wearing a gray pants and black sweater sat next to him. He spoke quietly.

"It's small this time around," he said passing Jonathan a small envelope. Jonathan placed it in his backpack. "I can pay you upfront today, so don't worry about Alex." He passed Jonathan another envelope, which he opened briefly and closed satisfied.

Jonathan looked at him. "Give my best to Millie."

"Sure thing."

Jonathan got up and walked away, putting his bag back over his back but not replacing his shades. He walked a few streets over, deciding he would take a different route to the one he took yesterday. He climbed a fire escape and got to the roof of a building. He began running as he did before. No more helicopters flew overhead and his new route avoided the large building he had to climb the stairs of yesterday.

He once again landed on Alex's building. After ensuring that no-one was looking, he entered the stairwell and made his way to Alex's floor. He went to the room just as he did the day before and knocked on the door three times as he did before. He did not hear anything coming from inside the room. He looked up and down the hallway. No-one was there.

He knocked again. It was quiet. Jonathan turned the knob on the door. It turned. Something was definitely wrong. He opened the door slowly and stepped inside, shutting the door behind him. The room was a mess. Everything had been overturned or shaken out. Alex's laptop was gone and papers and other objects were strewn across the room. He heard a moan coming from the overturned couch.

He moved to the couch and moved it. Alex was underneath, his pistol in his hand. He coughed up blood. "Dammit... Johnny... I knew... what I found,"—he coughed—"was bad..."

"What happened?" Jonathan looked over Alex. There were two bullets in his chest from the looks of it, and the overturned couch on top of him obviously had not helped the problem.

"Someone...knocked on my door...when I... pulled it open to see... who was out there... the person barged in... and pulled a gun... I shot back..."—he winced—"He got me Johnny... Then he started looking for it."

"Looking for what?"

Alex coughed a bit before speaking. "The thing I... found..."

Alex's eyes started to close. "Come on Alex, stay with me."

His eyes forced themselves back open. "I... I had it on a hard drive... I don't think he found it... Over there." He turned his head to the wall at the back the emptied out closet. Jonathan walked over to it. "Press in the wall in the... bottom left corner."

Jonathan did as Alex instructed. The wall pushed back and Jonathan slid it to the side and reached in the revealed compartment. He found the hard drive that Alex was talking about.

"That's... it..." Alex's breaths were becoming shorter.

"Alex." Jonathan rushed back over to the dying man.

"Dammit... Johnny... It's cold..."

"Come on Alex. Don't die on me."

"You couldn't... get me... out of here... in time anyway." Alex started breathing slower and his eyes closed.

"Come on Alex. No. No." Alex stopped breathing. Jonathan stood up and looked down at his dead friend.

He looked around the room. He heard someone knock on the door behind him. The person outside was obviously impatient as the knob slowly began to turn. Jonathan quickly put the hard drive in his jacket pocket and pulled his scarf up onto his face and moved near the door.

The door opened halfway and a pistol came through the door. Jonathan grabbed the person's wrist and yanked them through the door. Keeping the gun aimed away from him, he slammed the person into the wall. He heard the grunt come from the man. Jonathan grabbed the gun from the man's grip and through it across the room. The man kicked Jonathan in the stomach. Jonathan flew back and landed on his back. The man dove across the room and tried to grab the gun. As he rose, turning back to Jonathan, Jonathan grabbed the man's wrist again with his right hand and spun to back the man, elbowing him in the jaw as he did so. He kept the momentum going and swung the man around into Alex's desk. He disarmed the man again, but this time kept the gun in his hand and backed away quickly. The man groaned and looked at Jonathan, who emptied the weapon and locked the slide. Jonathan then raised his hands in a defensive stance.

The man grabbed one of the removed drawers from on Alex's desk and threw at Jonathan. Jonathan ducked out of the way. As he rose, the man ran into him, grabbing him by the waist and slamming him into the wall. Jonathan elbowed him a couple times in the back and he let go. Jonathan analysed the last few minutes. The man was definitely stronger. Jonathan kicked at the man. The man grabbed his foot. Jonathan span his foot in the man's loose grip and brought his other foot off the ground and kicked him in the face. Both combatants hit the ground.

Both men got up and looked at each other. The man noticed Alex's dead body and the gun in his hand. Jonathan followed his eyes. _Shit!_ The man dived. Jonathan dived behind him. The man reached the gun and turned on his back. Jonathan grabbed the man's wrist once again and elbowed the man in the face. The man reached for his nose as Jonathan got up, only to be tripped by the man's feet. Jonathan released the gun and it hit the ground beneath the window. The man scrambled across the ground to him and hit him in the face. Jonathan retaliated with his own swift punch to the man's face. The man tried to punch Jonathan again, but Jonathan blocked and delivered another blow. Jonathan got back to his feet. The man got up, wiping away the blood that was dripping from his mouth with his sleeve.

The two stood for a moment, planning their next move. Jonathan finished planning first and kicked up one of the couch's pillows at the man's face. Jonathan ran at him, as the pillow hit the man and drop kicked the man into the wall. The man's head hit against the wall with a thud and he slumped to the ground. Jonathan got back top his feet and watched the man for a few moments before moving.

He caught his breath and then moved over to the unconscious man. The man was wearing a suit. He reached into his jacket and removed a wallet. He flipped it open.

"Great...," he said to himself. "He's a cop." He looked at the name on the ID beneath the badge. Detective Martin Barker. He closed the wallet and threw it into the man's lap. He then heard some of the last things he wanted to hear. The sound of a helicopter above the building. Tires screeched outside with police sirens wailing below. His earphones went crazy with CPF chatter. _Damn!_ SWAT was already in the building.

"We're moving into position now," he heard the voice come through the earphone.

"We're at the door." Jason moved across the room and got down on the ground like an Olympic sprinter.

"Preparing to breach."

He could hear the footsteps outside the door moving into position. The CPF frequency went quiet. All that could be heard was the countdown to the breach. "3...2..."

Jonathan rose and sprinted across the room and rammed the door through, before the countdown could finish. The door came off its hinges and Jonathan kept going into the wall. The two men behind the door got sandwiched. Jonathan turned left and jumped, using the backs of the crouched SWAT members to get past.

He turned right at the end of the hall as the CPF radio waves went live. He turned again at the end of this hall and made it to the stairwell. He had a few seconds to make his next decision: up or down. Bullets came from below. Jonathan turned and ran up the stairs.

He crashed through the door to the roof. The helicopter was low and immediately gunfire was rained on him. He continued running and jumped across to the next building, landing on the balcony of the apartment of a person who lived above their small convenient store. He crashed through the door and ran through. The people in the room screamed as bullets followed the intruder.

As Jonathan jumped through the window onto the fire escape on the other side of the building, Jonathan contemplated what move he would make to escape them. Maybe he could run them a bit to get some civilians into the mix and then escape in the metro.

* * *

In the event of a police emergency, persons were supposed to vacate the area. Collin was trying to do just that. The problem was that the Blues were chasing him. The relatively good part was that since he was so near to street level, it was hard for people to vacate the areas he was passing through fast enough. He jumped down into the plaza and jumped over a bench two people had now sprung out of.

Suddenly the number of Blues multiplied. He watched another person jump down from the railing above the entrance to the metro and roll expertly. He turned and descended into the metro. Collin ran down behind him. Despite the fact that the person had a backpack he was running fast. Collin had a hard time keeping up.

"Merc," he said into his comm.

"Yeah kid?" Before Collin could answer Merc continued. "Dammit kid hurry."

"Yeah I know." He saw the person disappear through the crowd around the corner. "Do you know if there are any other Runners around here?"

"Not to my knowledge kid."

"Well there's another Runner here. And he's fast."

"Another Runner?"

"Yeah." Collin jumped between the two escalators and slid down the divider, between the up and down escalators. People were leaning away from the divider already—the other Runner had already passed through.

"Kid, get through the tunnels. Faith'll be waiting for ya at the subway entrance near Arbour Park."

Collin ran through the parted crowd. A train was slowing down at the station. He saw the other person jump onto the tracks before the train closed the gap. Collin pressed on and jumped, squeezing through the gap just before it closed. He ran on, down the tracks. He could see the other person had slowed down behind him and was looking around for something.

He had obviously found what he was looking for as he tugged on a maintenance hatch and went through it. Collin ran on behind him, keeping his distance, listening for the sound of the train behind him. He entered the maintenance hatch and closed it.

"Merc... Merc...." Static. He was too deep. The person he was following had disappeared. He continued running through the underground for a few minutes. He eventually entered the large air vents. The many large fans were spinning. He saw the Runner from before on a catwalk above him. He pressed a button and the fans slowed, eventually coming to a stop. The Runner ran through the stopped fans.

Collin climbed to the upper catwalk using the nearby ladder and did as the person ahead of him did. He came out from the fan shaft just before the fans restarted. He looked for the other Runner. As he turned his head, he felt a hand grab his. Soon he was pinned against the wall with the person pressing into his throat.

Collin looked at the Runner. His eyes were hidden by shades and the rest of his face by a scarf. The only thing Collin could see was his black hair.

"I'd recommend you stop following me," the Runner said.

"I'm not following you. I'm running from the Blues," Collin said.

The other Runner said nothing else and looked at Collin carefully. He released him and turned, sprinting across the catwalk. Collin rubbed his neck and then took off after the other Runner. The other Runner smashed through a door, ran to the end of the catwalk and jumped, pushing off the rail at the corner of the catwalk and swung on the pipe spanning the walls of the room. He landed on the other side safely and slid into the vent on the other side of a landing. Collin performed the same actions, all be it less fluently, and entered the vent.

Collin lost sight of him in the vents. He heard the sound of a vent cover being opened echo through the vents. He continued on and eventually dropped through the open vent cover. He looked around. He had completely lost him this time. He walked through the nearby door which was slightly ajar. He walked out of the small corridor, avoiding the camera. He was in another metro. No-one was looking in his direction, making his entrance into the metro from a restricted doorway easier.

He scanned the heads of the crowds for the other Runner. No luck. He looked up at the address of the metro. Arbour Park. They had crossed seven blocks, in the maintenance tunnels and to him it did not even seem like it was that far.

"Collin you there?" Merc's voice came over the comm. Collin flicked his long hair around to cover the comm.

"Yeah Merc."

"Go up a level. Faith is waiting for ya."

"Gotcha."

"You lost your friend?"

"I lost him Merc," Collin answered, looking around the metro.

"Don't worry kid. I'll do some checking around. See if I can find anything on our mystery Runner."

Collin gave up his search and went up to the next level. Faith was waiting, leaning up against a wall for him.

"Merc told me you made a new friend."

"Yeah well... I lost him."

Faith shrugged. "The Blues are concentrated a few blocks from here," she whispered. "But we should get further away just in case."

Collin nodded and followed Faith, not noticing the man who sat on a bench a few feet away, looking over a magazine at them.

* * *

**Author's Notes:** Reviews and comments would be really appreciated. This was surprisingly shorter than the last chapter.


	4. Chapter 3

**Author's Notes: **I haven't updated in a while, so for those of you who read this here's an update. Short chapter, no action, just progression. Enjoy.

* * *

**Chapter 3**  
Faith and Collin dropped into Merc's lair. Collin immediately walked to the mini-fridge and grabbed a bottled water. When he finished half the bottle he turned to Merc. "Well Merc you found anything on our mystery Runner?"

"Nope kiddo. I've been asking around. No-one seems to know who he is. Whoever he is, he stirred up a hornet's nest on the Blue's comms."

"So he's not an ex?" Faith asked resting her hand on Merc's chair and looking over his shoulder.

"No way. The ex's and freelancers stay in contact."

"So some Runner we know nothing about drops out of nowhere with twice the Blues I had behind me behind _him_ and then he disappears in a metro as though he was never there to begin with."

"Looks so kiddo." Merc continued typing on his computer. "I'll keep checking around. He hasn't caused any trouble for us so we shouldn't have to worry about him."

Collin sighed and sat in the chair by the window as he usually did, drinking his water. He pondered for a bit over the mystery Runner and then stopped, there was nothing to think about.

Faith looked over Merc's shoulder, talking quietly about who this mystery Runner could be. They ruled out an Icarus assassin since he was actually running from the Blues and the Icarus assassins basically had the key to the city. They eventually eased away from the topic and Faith sat in her usual spot on the couch. She inspected the gun—out of habit—to ensure it was loaded and then proceeded to her Solitaire game. There would probably be few drops happening for the rest of the day since the Blues were up in arms.

* * *

Detective Nathan Jackson entered the room, scanning its contents with trained eyes. It was a definite mess. Different items were strewn across the room, furniture was overturned and there was a dead body lying behind a couch. A definite mess. He knew that there were two ways this could end, both of them with him not finding the killer. Either this was a Runner and he would be allowed to continue his investigation, or by this time tomorrow he would receive special documents indicating the investigation be ceased immediately.

He could not help but get a feeling imposing itself on his mind. A feeling, or more of a nagging sensation in the back of his mind, that there was something unique about this. The strange thing was, that this seemed like every other homicide he had seen, and homicides were few and far in between in this city.

He looked at his partner who walked in next to him holding an ice pack to the back of his head, scanning the room as he did—as all detectives do. "So what happened Martin?"

"I got a call; shots fired. I got here a bit before SWAT and the guy downstairs told me it was up here. When I get to the door I knock and then open it, gun drawn. Next thing I know, I'm pulled into the room and in a fight with a guy who disarmed me in a matter of seconds. Last thing I remember is his feet in the air, a pain in my chest then the one at the back of my head."

"How's it feeling?" Nathan inquired.

"I don't think its too bad. I can still walk and see properly so I guess I'm fine." Martin moved the ice pack and touched the bump on the back of his head gingerly, wincing a little as he did so.

"You get a look at him?"

"Black hair, that's all."

Nathan rested his hand on his head. "So it could be me."

"You couldn't kick my ass if you tried." Martin groaned a bit at the pain throbbing in his head. "Not even a chick could give me a headache this bad."

"I think your lovestruck."

Martin shot him a look, but ignored the temptation to respond. "Seriously, did the guy just disappear?"

Nathan nodded. "Apparently, Superman jumped to the next building, not taking a single bullet, kept running and ducked into the metro a few blocks over."

"You think he's lucky or our guys can't shoot?"

"Probably both considering he was being shot at with a damn machine gun."

Martin gave a little chuckle. "Can't argue there." He tilted his head in the direction of the dead body. "Got an ID on the vic?"

"The name we got was Alex Damon."

The coroner's investigator stood up, still a bit angry that the one day he was going to take his kids to the ocean park to see all the things they kept begging him to see someone would decide to kill someone else in this city. He looked at the detectives. "Couple of gunshot wounds to the torso. He bled out. From the liver temperature, he died a few minutes before SWAT showed."

"Thanks, Jim." Martin said.

"Yeah, yeah..." Jim left the room, kit in hand and grumbling.

"What's his problem?" Nathan asked.

"Beats me."

"Where do we start?" Nathan inquired looking over the room. The coroners passed them carrying the body.

Martin looked over the room. His head felt like it was about to split again from the thought of going through the ransacked room. "We start after I get more aspirin." Martin turned to ask one of the paramedics for more of the painkiller.

Nathan chuckled at the taller man's comment and then looked at the room again. At least they would have gotten to do their job a bit before they got the papers saying to stop. "I better get some aspirin too," he muttered. "Or a drink."

* * *

Jonathan opened the door and stepped inside his apartment. There was no sign of Laura. Elisa walked through his open bedroom door and rubbed up against his leg. _She would manage to leave the one time I get shot at. _

He put his bag on the couch and wondered about what had happened over at Alex. He poured himself a glass of water and entered his bedroom, grabbing the painkillers from the desk as he passed it. He sat on the edge of his bed and swallowed two pills, following them with the water. He needed to contact Roscoe and return the package.

There was very little to go by considering it all seemed to be some data someone really wanted to keep secret. He removed the hard drive from the pocket on the inside of his jacket and looked carefully at it. The only thing he could thing of that would cause this would be something government related.

He walked over to the computer and turned on the monitor, removing his jacket and sitting down at the computer, resting the hard drive on the desk. He sent the encrypted message to Roscoe and sat back, looking at the hard drive contemplating what he should do.

A few minutes passed and his phone rang. Very few people actually contacted him by phone, the one who did the most being his sister and even then she usually sent an email. He stepped into the main room and answered the phone, greeting the person in a monotone voice.

"I want to talk to you," his sister said.

"Problem?"

"You watch the news recently?"

Jonathan picked up the remote and turned on the television, switching to the City Eye Channel News.

"—CPF officials are releasing very little information as to the reason behind the chase. The two Runners eventually disappeared with out a trace when they disappeared into the metro. At this moment neither Runner has been identified—"

"How did you guess?" he asked.

"Guess?" she asked in an insulted tone. "I _know_ you."

Jonathan made a face as if he was saying, _that's true,_despite his sister not being able to see him. "Where do you want to meet?"

"Green Valley Mall."

Jonathan thought about the location. The mall was mainly underground, having its own metro station. Above ground was basically just a parking structure. It was by no means as large as the New Eden Mall, which should probably have had its own district, but it was large enough and had enough exits which he could get to quickly despite the shopping districts being riddled with security.

"Okay. Time?"

The pause indicating that she was looking at a clock came. "Let's have lunch. Twelve- thirty in the food court."

"Okay. Bye. See you."

"Bye." His sister hung up.

He considered telling Amanda about what happened. She was the better hacker after all, despite the fact that he taught her. A classic case of the student surpassing the master. She simply spent more time behind the computer than he did now.

He looked at the clock on the wall. 11:15. He took a shower and placed the clothes he was wearing in the washing machine. He removed some regular clothes from the wardrobe, blue jeans, white shirt with a design on the bottom left of it, and a blue jacket. He put the hard drive and his wallet with a few hundred on the inside of his jacket and dropped a novel in the bag. He put in an extra shirt and pants just in case and a couple pairs of gloves. He packed all the items as tightly as he could, allowing the bag to retain a generally small shape.

He checked the apartment ensuring he could remember where everything was when he returned. He grabbed his iPod and the small bottle of painkillers as he stepped into the hallway, placing both in his jacket. He made his way downstairs and entered the nearest metro to get on the train to the Green Valley Mall.

The metro came to a stop at the station of the Green Valley Mall, a large underground complex riddled with department stores and the like—something for everyone. He removed the earphones of his iPod from his ears and looked around. A hustling confusion of people were in the station alone, either with shopping bags, leaving the mall, or empty-handed, now entering the mall.

He walked out of the station into the mall, three floors above the food court. He looked at his watch. 12:14. He decided to walk a bit and look around. He walked into an electronics store and looked around, nothing quite catching his eye.

He left the store and entered a shoe shop, deciding a new pair of running shoes was well deserved. He looked around for a few minutes, scanning the different sneakers. He had a few pairs already but another pair could not hurt. He settled on a pair of black running shoes, the logo on the side of the shoes were that of the silhouette of a fox. The clerk had told him the Flying Fox brand of shoes were very reliable. He bought the shoes at the price of five hundred dollars. He figured it made little difference how much money he spent since he treated all his shoes well.

He walked to the railing and looked down in the food court. It was nearly 12:30 so his sister would probably be there by now. He took an escalator down to the next level and scanned the heads from above. He eventually found her sitting reading a book with a soda on the table in front of her. He went down to her and walked up to her table.

"Mind if I sit here miss?" he asked.

"That depends," she said putting her book down and looking up at him. "Are you going to run from me?"

"Should I have reason to?" he asked sitting in the chair, putting the bag with the shoes at his feet.

She giggled. "No. How've you been Jonathan?"

"I'm fine. What's going on? Checking up on big bro?"

"Well I did see you on the news."

He shrugged. "Nothing much happens in this city, so when all hell breaks loose, CEC is bound to swarm on it like the sharks they are."

"So what happened?"

"Wrong place, wrong time scenario." He looked around casually, taking in distances to the people around him and the noise level of the mall. "Client got killed," he said as softly as he could but still loud enough that only she could hear.

Amanda's eyes widened a bit, but she recovered quickly. "Which one?"

"You know Alex right?"

She put her hand to her mouth as she gasped. It was another hacker. "What happened?"

"Apparently, he hacked something somebody's nervous about."

Amanda did not respond immediately. She was considering the possibilities. Jonathan smiled as he looked at her, twirling a lock of her hair in her fingers. Where Jonathan had been blessed with the dark hair of their father, she had received her mother's auburn hair. She was nearly everything of their mother and sometimes it almost hurt him to look at her. They had both received their mother's brown eyes. She was smaller than Jonathan and had developed into a full woman. In their teenage years, when she was obsessing over her body and showing off, she had often quarrelled with Jonathan for scaring away boys that were looking at her. She had definitely matured since then.

"It's probably government info."

"It's got Callaghan written all over it. I know."

"You know what the exact data is?"

"I was hoping you could tell me," he said reaching into his jacket's pocket and placing the hard drive on the table.

She looked at it. "Where'd you get it?"

"Alex gave it before he died. Had it hidden."

"And you want me to check something someone got killed for?" She raised an eyebrow.

"You're better than Alex. I'm sure you'd be careful."

She sighed and took the hard drive. Jonathan knew she was faking it. She wanted to know what was on that drive more than he did. "It can probably only be accessed properly when on the original system. As a guess I'm saying that if accessed at any other location, the location is immediately recorded and tracked."

"Just don't activate it when connected," he instructed.

She gave him a look. "You know me better than that."

"I did teach you after all."

Amanda smiled more at the comment. "But now I'm better."

"That's not fair. You're on your computer more often."

"And whose fault is that?"

Jonathan laughed a bit. "So we going to have lunch or what?"

"You're paying."

"Why me?"

"Because you bought some expensive shoes," she said noting the bag under the table.

"Isn't that a reason that you should pay? Because I already spent money?"

"Yeah, but you didn't spend it on me. Plus, if you bought a pair of the most expensive shoes around, I know you have more money hidden in that jacket of yours."

"You know me too well Amanda."

"Is that a bad thing?"

"If it means you're going to rob me blind, yes."

Amanda giggled again. "Well you can buy your food first."

They traversed the large structure that was the mall, window shopping and talking about what had happened since they had last seen each other. Jonathan's cell phone rang,he he flipped it open and looked at the text message. It was blank, the only thing there was the name of the sender. He looked at Amanda.

"I gotta go," he said giving her a hug.

"Don't worry I gotta go check on some stuff anyway, even though I took the day off."

As Jonathan walked away Amanda felt for the hard drive in her purse. There was a mystery about it and she wanted to know what it was. She knew a couple of other people who might want to see it. It was probably best other people had it just in case something happened.


	5. Chapter 4

**Update!! Been out of action for a while. To those who read, enjoy and reviews are very much appreciated. **

* * *

**Chapter 4**

It had been two days since Alex had died. Jonathan sat on his sofa waiting for Laura to arrive. She had asked to go out with him on a job since she did not do much with her ability as a Runner. The TV was on, City Eye Channel News speaking about a building that recently received an upgrade in security from Pirandello/Kruger. He changed the channel in an attempt to find something else to watch as he waited.

His channel surfing was interrupted by the window opening and Laura nimbly climbing through as she always did. She walked up behind him. "You ready?"

"I was waiting for you." Jonathan stood up and turned off the television. "Here." He threw her a scarf and a pair of shades.

"For...?"

"Just in case." She put the shades in her jacket and wrapped the scarf around her neck, easy to pull up and cover her face.

Jonathan climbed out of the window first and headed for the roof with Laura on his heels. They ran across the rooftops in silence, Laura trying to keep up with Jonathan as he kept up his pace. He stopped for a moment on one of the rooftops and waited for her.

"Am I moving too fast for you?" He gave her a little smile.

"Could you slow down a little bit?"

"I'll try."

They took off again, Jonathan attempting to move at a slower pace. As he jumped to another building he remembered what happened when Alex was killed and hoped nothing would happen today since he had Laura with him.

* * *

Faith sat on the bench in the metro eating a snack. She waited for Merc to tell her the drop was on its way. A few more minutes passed. Faith finished her snack and went to put it in the garbage. She walked up the stairs and exited the metro as Merc's voice came over the comm in her ear.

"Okay Faith, Kreeg just dropped the package at 23rd North Fairfax in the Historic District. Get it and I'll tell you where to go from there."

Faith walked along the street, carefully eying every Blue she passed. She walked through an alley and looked around. There was no-one looking. She climbed a dumpster and wall-climbed then pushing herself up to grab a pipe. She climbed upwards quickly and jumped for the fire escape. She grabbed on and swiftly swung over the railing and began her ascent. She had to climb the rest of the way to the roof using a pipe. She looked around the roof for a moment, recalling the direction of the Historic District.

She remembered and ran to the edge of the roof using her right foot to push off and land on the next roof. She continued on, jumping a vent. She wall ran across a billboard spanning the length across the alley of the building she was on and the next landing on the next building. She ran up to a few stacked boxes and used them as a springboard to climb to a higher part of the roof. Then wall-climbed higher without breaking her flow. She turned and grabbed the hanging high tension line and slid down it. She zipped over one roof and released as she approached another. Drops from zip lines frightened most Runners, even the most experienced. Falling was a Runner's worst nightmare. The nightmare ended quickly as she landed on the tarp covering a set of boxes on the roof. It made a slight metallic sound as she landed, extra parts for the vents no doubt. She continued on.

The good thing about the Business District was the congested buildings. It made it a bit easier to find pathways. She wall-ran against another building that almost joined to the building she was on at the corner and dropped a few feet to a lower roof. She turned on the edge of the building and climbed to a higher point. She looked up at the building to her left and saw a pipe. She wall-ran again, turned and grabbed the pipe and began to climb. She reached one of the lower roofs of the building and sprinted to the edge using her momentum as she jumped to propel her forward across the large gap. She rolled as she landed on the next roof.

"Faith you're near the Historic District. Head through the CCC construction site to your right," Merc instructed.

She turned and saw the scaffolding on the building to her right with the CCC logo on the tarp covering part of it. She sprinted again and launched grabbing the scaffolding and climbing onto it. She followed the scaffolding up until she could not go any higher. She looked for an opening and found one. She ran further down the scaffolding and climbed through a window into the construction site. It was empty on this level but she could hear a bit of noise below. She hurried and climbed a level and into a vent. She climbed through until she exited in a more complete part of the building and took the stairs upwards.

She came to the roof and looked around. The crane was her ticket to the next building. She climbed the crane and ran up the arm, jumped and landed a few feet below the arm's highest point.

Merc came over her comm, "Okay Faith, just a few more blocks to go."

Faith ran and continued on wall-running to the next building using a billboard. She jumped to the wall of the next building and grabbed onto the ornament protruding from the wall. She smiled. The best part of the Historic District was its architecture, allowing for easy wall-climbing. She grabbed the next ornament a little higher up, then the next. She jumped for one a little out of arm's reach and found a foothold that left her leaning slightly. She continued up, handhold, foothold, handhold, until she reached the roof. She listened. No-one saw her or the Blues would be swarming on her already. She ran for the edge and vaulted over a set of pipes and under a vent. She used a gargoyle off the side of the building to get her closer to the next roof before she jumped. She landed solidly, her flow unbroken. She ran and dropped down to a lower part of the building. Another wall-run across a billboard followed by another wall-climb. A few more jumps across roofs and she had reached her destination.

She panted a bit, wondering why she had gotten tired. She remembered how tiring the climbs in the Historic District could be. She pressed her hand to her comm. "Merc? Where'd Kreeg put the package?"

There was a slight pause before his response. "He says he left it near a vent under an AC unit."

Faith looked around and saw the location he was referring to. She looked under the vent and reached for the bag. The yellow bag was light as it always was. She put the strap over her head and let the bag fall and pulled it to an appropriate length that she could run with.

"Where to Merc?" she asked into her ear piece.

"You wanna head into the Adams Business District and look for the cell tower. Head west kiddo."

"Gotcha Merc."

Faith turned and began to run. The wind blew in her face, cooling her as she pumped her muscles. She jumped to the next building, and the next. She had turned parallel to the street and ran, she jumped to the next building and turned in the corner. As she ran she eventually entered the Adams Business District.

She saw the cell tower a few blocks over. She ran, slammed through a door and into a building. She climbed the stairs and found herself in a corridor. An open vent above her provided an alternate, and safer, route. She wall climbed and turned, grabbing the ledge and pulled herself in. She climbed through the vent cautiously, listening for sounds of other people. She came to a vent cover and kicked it open. She dropped out of the vent and looked around. A door with the symbol for stairs called out to her. She opened it and found a flight. She climbed them. A few flights and she was once again on the roof.

Faith heard a dreaded sound and looked up. A CPF chopper flew nearby. Merc came over the comm. "Faith..." she drew out her name.

"Blues?" she asked with a sigh, cursing in her mind.

"Like crazy kiddo."

"Exits Merc?" She began running so she would not get pinned by the Blues.

Kate came over the comm quickly. "Metro Faith. Alpine street a few blocks off or you could catch the train while its out of the metro on the overpass at 33rd and Artisan, roughly the same distance. Whatever you do sis, make it quick."

Faith contemplated catching the train but decided against it. She could more easily get lost if she entered the metro herself. She grabbed a zip line and slid down to a nearby roof, rolling as she landed. She could hear the sirens approaching and the helicopter had gotten closer. She quickly glanced upwards to her right and could see the side door opened and a gunner positioning himself. A voice came over the loudspeaker. "Do not run or we will open fire."

Faith entered a building and ran down the stairs the stairs a couple floors and then burst through a room filled with people, who became frightened at her intrusion. She kicked through the door to the connecting bridge of two buildings and ran across, smashing through the other door. A few women screamed at her sudden invasion but she continued on. She ran down a few more flights and then entered an unoccupied office, the fire escape symbol in the hallway pointing her at it. She vaulted the desk and went for the window. She climbed through and ran down the rest of the stairs, held onto the ladder as it dropped down and ran down the alley, away from the current screeching of tires and the wailing of sirens.

She passed between another pair of buildings and ran into the street, vaulting two cars to get across to the metro. She heard the sirens again, closer. She saw two other people running into the metro ahead of her. She descended into the metro behind them.

* * *

Jonathan cursed as he descended the stairs into the metro. The Blues comm had suddenly gone rampant with chatter and he soon found himself running. However he had misjudged the chatter and ended up in the middle of it. He got into the metro, Jade close behind him and looked around quickly. Security saw them and began to move. A woman ran past them down the stairs to the platform. Chances were that the Blues had gone live because of her. Laura ran after her and Jonathan followed closely. Security was waiting at the bottom of the stairs.

People had begun to panic by now, getting in the way. Jonathan saw the other woman engaged with one of he security personnel. He ran past Laura at another security guard trying to aim his gun through the crowd. Jonathan felt the adrenaline pumping even harder now. _Swift and decisive_, went through his mind. He grabbed the gun's slide tightly with his left hand, keeping it pointed at the ground a off to his left side and pulled the guard into the back of his right fist. The man cried out in agony. Jonathan immediately palmed downward on the man's left arm, releasing the man's left hand from the gun and brought his elbow back up into the man's jaw, a cracking sound the result of the swift blow. Jonathan felt the man's grip on the gun weaken as he staggered and he pinned the man's index finger to the trigger guard with his left thumb and with both hands on the weapon he twisted. Another crack. The man cried out as Jonathan repositioned the gun to pull it off the man's broken index finger. Jonathan pistol whipped the man across the side of his head knocking him out.

He quickly searched his surroundings after the short encounter, gun lowered. The stranger was fighting another guard and Laura was caught in her own engagement. Jonathan saw another guard, approaching Laura and her opponent, gun drawn looking for an opening to shoot. Jonathan ran at him, grabbed the man's wrist, pushing it away from Laura and her fight. He kneed the man in the gut and then smashed his gun into the guard's face, staggering him. The guard's left hand released as he began to fall. Jonathan held onto the man's right hand as he hit the ground and twisted, breaking it. The gun fell from the man's grip. Jonathan brought his gun down into the man's screaming face, knocking him out as well. He rose, this encounter also being short only lasting roughly a minute.

"This way," he heard the stranger say, running onto the tracks cautiously avoiding the third rail. Laura followed. Jonathan safetied his gun and put it in his waist, looking back to the stairs, to see SWAT filing down. He quickly ran after Laura and the stranger, who had run through a maintenance door on the tracks. A few moments after he closed the door, he could hear the train on the other side.

"Shit," he cursed as he looked away from the door to see that Laura and the other woman had disappeared.

He followed the pipes, and the doors that were knocked open. He eventually came to a ventilation area and looked up. He saw Laura and the stranger disappear through stopped ventilation fan. He called out to Laura, who looked down at him. She beckoned him to follow. He found the ladder and climbed up. The fans had restarted so he pressed the emergency stop button. He climbed through as the fans came to a halt and saw that Laura had stopped with the mystery woman.

The tension could be cut with a knife. Jonathan and the woman looked at one another before she finally broke the silence. "Thanks for your help back there."

_So much for rules_, he thought. "No problem," he responded. He heard Laura releasing a long sigh.

Laura looked at the two of them. "We still need to get away from the cops."

"Follow me," the woman said. "I know a way outta here and somewhere we can lay low."

Jonathan would have protested were it not for the look Laura gave him telling him to be a little trusting. Jonathan sighed, knowing he might get an earful and then some if he did not. He pulled down the scarf. "Okay."

The woman motioned for them to follow and began to run. Jonathan and Laura ran behind her. As they ran further the rumbling started again. They eventually came to a catwalk just above the tracks.

"Get ready to jump," the woman said.

Laura looked around at Jonathan, who watched the tracks waiting. He turned his head and looked at her. "Get ready," he said.

They climbed onto the railing and prepared to jump. The train passed beneath them and they dropped down onto the roof of it, falling over each other. Jonathan recovered quickly and reached to pull Laura up. The woman got up herself. They crouched and watched the tunnel pass by. Jonathan put his hand to his earphones and listened.

"Shit," he said to himself. "Blues are getting ready to stop the trains. There's a maintenance access that leads to street level about a hundred metres ahead. We have to get off the train," he said to the others.

"What!? Are you serious!?" Laura shouted the question.

"Fifty!."

The woman started moving to the back of the train. "He's right," she said as she passed Laura.

They all began to move to the back of the train. The train began to brake, jolting them with the quick change of pace. "Twenty-five!" Jonathan started sprinting against the train. Laura and the woman followed. Jonathan jumped and landed on the tracks rolling. The two women followed suit. Jonathan turned and ran behind the train. The door became visible as the train passed it. Jonathan kicked open the door and turned. Laura and the woman ran through ahead of him.

They ran up to street level and came out in an alley. Jonathan removed his shades and his scarf. Laura did the same. He removed his backpack, removed the contents from his jacket and turned it inside out. Then replaced them on the inside. The woman watched with interest as he did this. "Where to?" he asked. He looked at Laura who had also changed her appearance then at the woman again.

"We need to go to Moore Street."

* * *

Faith dropped in first, followed by two strangers. Merc looked at them with interest. "New friends Faith?"

"Yeah."

The woman spoke first. "I'm Laura and this is Jonathan," she introduced herself and the man with her.

"Hi," Jonathan said.

"I'm Merc."

Jonathan looked around the gutted cooling tower. It was more cozy than small, a pretty creative and good place to hide. A woman who introduced herself as Kate sat behind another screen on the other side of the table Merc was at. Jonathan saw the other man who walked up to them and looked him in the eyes.

"You're that guy from a few days ago aren't you?" he asked Jonathan, a serious expression on his face.

"Yes."

"Pleasure to meet you. I'm Collin," he said his expression changing to a smile.

Jonathan could not help but return the friendly smile and extended his hand. Collin took it. "Jonathan," he introduced himself.

"You mind if we crash here for while?" Laura asked.

"Sure thing," Merc said.

Jonathan shrugged off the fact that his rule had been broken. He took off his backpack and set it on the floor. Seth would have to wait. He pulled out his hand-held computer and sent an encrypted message to him. He replaced the computer in his jacket as he sat down. He tried to ignore the pistol on the table in front of him set next to a deck of cards.

Laura talked to Faith and Collin came over and sat next to him. "So what's up? Never heard of you before."

"I like to keep to myself. Freelance," Jonathan responded. He sat pondering. There was something bothering him, something in the room that bothered him more than the gun but he just could not put his finger on it.

"You never encountered any other Runners before?"

"Not really. I purposely try to avoid them and besides it's a big city."

"Purposely?"

"Too many questions."

"Oh." Collin took that as a hint to be quiet.

"It's no problem. I just have a hard time trusting people."

"Don't worry man. We have our problems too. 'Bout a couple months ago another Runner named Celeste betrayed us. Killed that mayoral candidate, Pope, and set Kate up to take the blame. Faith went to her rescue."

"So Kate was the Blue who supposedly killed Pope?" He looked at Kate then at Faith and then realised it. They were twins. There were some differences between them but it could definitely be seen. "They're sisters."

"Yup."

Jonathan thought for a moment about what he had seen on the news about Pope's murder. _"Kate Connors... CPF police... Robert Pope... murdered. Connors..." _

"Connors..." he said softly to himself.

"Yeah, that's them."

It then dawned on Jonathan what was bothering him. There was a sense of familiarity in the room. As though he had experienced a presence similar to Faith's and Kate's. "_Miss Connors is such a good leader. She will help us keep our privacy... Miranda said that they're going to protest today..."_

"Miranda Connors," Jonathan said standing up.

Faith and Kate looked at him. Kate was the first to speak. "How do you know our mother's name?" she asked a bit shocked.

Jonathan's eyes narrowed. "Your mother got my mother killed in the November riots. My mother went because she believed in Miranda."

Laura ran across the room and held onto Jonathan and put her hand on his face. "Calm down Johnny. Calm down," she whispered in his ear.

A tear came to Jonathan's eye. Jonathan took a deep breath and sat down on the sofa again. His voice became calm again. "My mother told me so much about that woman. How strong she was. How she fought for the city and its people. How she was a leader we could all rely on." As Jonathan spoke Kate started sobbing. Faith went to comfort her. "I was eleven. I watched my mother get beaten into the ground by a police baton at eleven years old. I blamed that woman. Everytime I thought about my mother and that name came to mind I hated her more just like I hate this city."

Kate began crying louder. Merc was silent. Faith looked up from Kate, tears in her eyes. Merc was surprised to see Faith so vulnerable. He knew her to be a strong woman. "We lost her," Faith said, the sadness in her voice. "We lost our mother in those riots too." Faith choked on the sobs. "We were eight."

Jonathan looked at her. "I'm sorry. I don't hate you. I'm sorry for bringing up the memories." He wiped his face in his jacket sleeve and held onto Laura. "I'm sorry." Laura rubbed Jonathan's head comfortingly.

Collin gave Faith a bottle of water who handed it to Kate, who drank some. The atmosphere was thick and silent in the room. No-one moved nor said a word for a few moments. The silence was broken by Jonathan's cell phone ringing. He leaned off of Laura and took it from his bag and looked at it. It was a call forwarded from his apartment. He answered.

"Hello?" The tension broke. Merc turned back to his computers and Kate did the same.

"What do you want?" Jonathan asked the person on the phone with an annoyed and slightly aggressive tone.

Jonathan listened for a moment. After a few seconds his skin lost colour and the phone dropped from his suspended hand.

"Jonathan," Laura called to him. "Jonathan!" she practically shouted. She put her face in front of his. "What's wrong?"

Jonathan's face had no expression on it. His eyes seemed to be stuck looking past her. His lips began to quiver as he tried to speak. "Th... that was... my dad."

"What did he want?"

Jonathan finally moved his head and looked Laura right in her eyes. "Amanda's... dead." Jonathan broke down in her arms.

* * *

**Author's notes: **Tried something new by writing a full parkour sequence. PLease tell me what you think so I would know if to do it again or change something or whatever. The emotional part was unintended for this chapter but it flowed in well so I left it. No mention was ever made to the names of Faith's parents so I just came up with a name for her mother that I thought was suitable. Once again reviews are appreciated.


	6. Chapter 5

Amanda's funeral took place three days after her death. Under the bleak sky and depressing downpour Jonathan watched as his sister's coffin descended into the grave. It was difficult for people to tell if he was crying as he stood with a blank look with the water of the rain running down his face. His eyes, red from crying and drinking, were emotionless.

Jonathan's eyes watched his father's depressed face as _that_ woman held onto his arm. After the coffin was buried, Jonathan simply turned to leave. On the way out of the cemetery he was stopped by a man introducing himself as Detective Jackson. He asked Jonathan a lot of questions Jonathan claimed he could not answer. Jonathan eventually asked to be excused and continued out of the cemetery. Laura stopped him next, offering her sympathies for the fifty-third time in the last three days. Jonathan gave her a weak smile. She held him close in the rain for a few minutes before releasing him. She could feel his body moving as he sobbed with his chin on her head.

When Jonathan eventually stopped he released her and looked her in the eyes. After a few seconds Laura backed away almost afraid. Jonathan's eyes were narrow, dangerous. He turned and walked away, not looking back at her.

* * *

Jonathan sat on his sofa. A bottle and a shot glass sat on the table before him. He downed another shot and looked absent-mindedly at the news. Outside the rain pelted the city with a vengeance, as though punishing the city for being a farce. Despite being intoxicated, the wheels in his mind were turning. He got up from the sofa and walked to the phone and dialed a number.

* * *

Laura sat on the couch in Merc's lair. She looked through the windows at the clouds that blanketed the city. It was such a contrast to what she usually saw. She pondered what Jonathan would do.

"You okay?" Kate Connors asked her, offering a mug of coffee.

"Thanks." Laura took the mug and sipped a bit. "Not really. I'm kind of worried about what Jonathan might do."

"What do you mean?"

Laura looked into the coffee, as though it would show her something. "Jonathan might try to get revenge on Callaghan."

"He wouldn't try that would he?"

"That's the thing. I don't know what he would do." Laura sighed. She looked over at Merc who continued talking over his earpiece, oblivious to their conversation. "You see, a few years ago Jonathan used to do some running for a guy named Parchezzi. Parchezzi used Jonathan's sister to convince him to do some dirty work. You remember the assassinations that started about eight years ago?"

"That was Jonathan?"

Laura nodded. "Yup. About three years of assassination jobs." She took a sip of coffee. "Then he killed Parchezzi."

"And that's why the assassinations stopped?" Laura nodded. "You're afraid he might try to go on a suicide mission then? I don't really know him but I don't think he would do that."

"That's the problem. I'm not afraid he would get himself killed. I'm afraid because he was good at it. And you're right… you don't know him." Laura produced a pack of cigarettes and stepped outside.

* * *

Jonathan walked up to the warehouse. There area was blind to cameras, thankfully, and that was why Carlos chose such a warehouse to use as his storage for his weapons. He knocked on the door and was let inside.

As Jonathan stood by the door everyone looked at him and put their guns away. Everyone went back to what they were doing which mostly involved liming about or playing cards or something of the sort on the crates that were on the stacked around the warehouse.

Carlos walked up to him. "Johnny. How's it going?" he said arms open.

"Not too well. I'm not here for a visit." Then he added, "Or on regular Runner business."

"I see." Carlos' cheery demeanour disappeared. "What is it then?"

"I need my stuff."

"Sure thing. Might I ask why?" He leaned up on a crate. Jonathan leaned up next to him. Carlos called a woman over and handed her a key. He told her to get the bag from the locker number on the key.

Jonathan waited patiently until the woman disappeared. "You keep that key on you?"

"I always keep important stuff on my person. Anyhow, why do you want the stuff?"

"Callaghan."

Carlos blinked incredulously a couple times. "Jonathan. Are you serious?"

"As serious as a heart attack Carlos. My sister was killed because of him and I intend to be rid of him."

Carlos sighed. "You don't just have plans for Callaghan alone do you?"

"You read me like a book Carlos. I'll get to Callaghan but he's not the only one responsible."

Carlos kept his thoughts to himself for a moment, trying to sort them out. He looked at Jonathan. "An angel in a city of white," Carlos said, almost to himself.

"Pardon?"

"You're an angel in a city of white kid. Callaghan is a demon who seeks control and has it, if only through manipulation, deception and intimidation. Even though it's your city kid, it's his playground. He made the rules, it's his game."

"Wrong. It's _my_ playground. _I_ run in it. _I_ jump in it. We just haven't played at the same time yet."

Carlos chuckled. "I guess so kid. Just be careful, he has more kids on his side than you do." The woman returned and handed Carlos a duffel and the key. Carlos gave Jonathan the duffel and pocketed the key. "I hope you're up for it kid."

Jonathan smiled as he put the bag on his shoulder. "You forget Carlos. There is one thing I can do that Callaghan can't."

"What's that?"

"I can fly." With that Jonathan turned and walked to the door. "See you around, Carlos."

"We'll see kid."

* * *

Laura hesitated before knocking on Jonathan's door. She could hear the sound of something hitting something else. She assumed that he was punching his punching bag. She knocked on the door. The noise stopped and the world seemed to stop for a few moments before the door opened.

Jonathan stood before her, shirtless, sweating profusely. He had a towel around his neck and fingerless gloves. She assumed she had been right.

Jonathan stepped to the side to let her come inside. She quickly became alarmed when she saw an assortment of weapons on the coffee table. A few pistols in various states of assembly, piano wire, vials with syringes, a small assortment of knives. Everything looked like it had been recently cleaned. A bottle of painkillers sat on the table as well, the odd one out of the weapons of death.

She immediately dug into her bag and removed a pack of cigarettes. She removed one and put it between her lips, lighting it soon after with a lighter she had fished from her bag. She looked back at Jonathan, holding the lighted cigarette between her index and middle finger.

Jonathan looked at her. "You're smoking again."

"You're taking pills again."

"My head hurts."

"I'm worried," she said as her excuse.

She took another drag from the cigarette. She had picked up the habit the first time Jonathan had went out killing people. At the time it had helped calm her nerves.

She looked at him, her hand shaking. He walked past her and sat on the sofa. He opened the bottle of painkillers and swallowed two. She did not sit, but stood up looking down at him.

"Don't do it Johnny. Please." Her voice quivered with each word she pronounced.

"_Sic vis pacem para bellum._"

"_Sic vis…_" She paused as she remembered where she hear it. "'Peace'? You won't get peace like this Jonathan."

"_Finis coronat opus._"

Callaghan's motto echoed in her mind after he said it. Callaghan lived by his motto. All knew it; knew that he would do anything to keep himself in control.

"You're not Callaghan!"

"No, I'm not. I'm better than him." He paused. "And that's why I can beat him."

Laura went into the kitchen, put out the cigarette and threw it away. She turned got a glass of water and stood over the sink drinking it, pondering what else she could say to him. She finished the water and turned around, coming face to face with Jonathan. He looked into her eyes.

"Don't do it Johnny," she managed to get out in a soft voice.

"I have to."

"Please." She reached her hand up to his face and held his cheek. His eyes changed, softened, a reaction she was hoping for. She kissed him. Jonathan did not move. She kissed him again, then took his hand and led him into the bedroom. Outside, the rain started to fall again.

* * *

**Author's notes**: UPDATE!!! Please review. We all know it's encouragement to keep going other than seeing the story traffic. Anonymous reviews are enabled. Yeah no action in this chapter by the wat. It's more of an interlude. Thanks to Anonymous Scriptures for reviewing.

The sayings that Jonathan are saying are Latin. _Sic vis pacem para bellum_ is "If you want peace prepare for war" and _Finis coronat opus_ is something like "the end crowns the work"- when you play through the game it's kind of all over the place, especially on the last level in the Shard.


	7. Chapter 6

**Author's Notes:** I quietly update. Enjoy for those who _do_ read this and please review if you like it.

* * *

**Chapter 6**

Laura awoke to find Jonathan gone from the bed. On his computer desk a thermos sat with a sticky note on it with the words 'I have to' written on it. She sat up in the bed, clutching the sheets to her naked form. She listened, hoping that he was actually still in the apartment. She heard nothing. She sat in the bed and clutched her legs, tears beginning to form in her eyes. She did not want him to and yet she thought she understood. It was more than just revenge for his sister. It was something that had been forming since his mother had been killed, but it was not about her either. It was about the city, and setting it free.

Laura shook the thoughts from her mind and got the thermos from the computer table and proceeded to drink the hot chocolate within, her mind beginning to force the thoughts of Jonathan's vendetta from her mind.

* * *

Jonathan entered the apartment building where his sister had lived. He introduced himself to the landlord as Amanda's brother. The woman gave her condolences and handed him the key to Amanda's room, telling him the floor and how to get there. He thanked her for her sympathy and ascended the stairs.

He arrived at the door and stopped, taking a deep breath to collect himself. He inserted the key and unlocked the door. He stood for a moment studying the fact that once he opened the door he would have to see it through to the end. He turned the knob.

The room looked similar to how Alex's had, items strewn across the room, furniture overturned; everything basically in a state of disarray. He looked around cautiously, knowing that his sister would find a better hiding spot than Alex. It would be somewhere both visible and well hidden.

He did an overview of the room, stopping at the chalk outline of where his sister's body had fallen, a bullet between her eyes. He stared at the blood stain on the ground, the anger growing larger inside him. He shook his head, trying to control his emotions and stepped over the stain, continuing to scan the room.

He had expected it would be difficult to find it. He looked around the room, slowly, objects lighting up to him. A magnet was on the other side of the room, probably from the desk. It seemed a rather out of place object in any place. He picked up the magnet and looked at it.

He continued scanning the room, holding the magnet in his hand. He walked into the bedroom where there was yet more chaos. He looked at the drawers pulled from the bedside table. There was something odd about them, something that could easily be overlooked in haste. They were shallower than they should be. He picked up one and looked at. He knocked the underside, it sounded solid. He looked inside the drawer, nothing seemed out of the ordinary but the bottom on the inside was higher up than it should have been.

The random magnet had to be for something and, knowing his sister, she did not keep keys to objects right next to them. He placed the magnet inside the drawer, close to the front, and felt it pull out of his hand and hit the bottom of the drawer. He pulled on it but it did not move easily. He felt a slight movement as he pulled off the magnet.

Placing it inside again he tugged lightly. No movement. He pulled the magnet around to the side and heard an audible click. Pulling up on the magnet, the bottom lifted up, hinged on the back of the drawer.

"You always were clever sis," he muttered to himself.

Inside revealed his prize, the hard drive with information Callaghan was willing to kill for. He walked out of the room, looking at the hard drive in his hand and looked up to see another person entering the apartment, wearing what appeared to be runner gear.

The two locked eyes. Eventually the intruder's eyes wandered down to the hard drive Jonathan was still holding in his hand. The man turned and bolted, Jonathan ran after him, tucking the hard drive into an inner pocket in his jacket and zipping it shut as he ran.

The intruder sprinted to the end of the hallway and ducked out to the fire escape. Jonathan followed close and made his way up to the roof behind the intruder. He climbed onto the roof and sprinted behind his quarry, vaulting over and sliding under objects where necessary. The man jumped across to the next building and landed a little awkwardly. Jonathan used the railing as a springboard and landed more easily, keeping his momentum going.

He vaulted over a set of pipes the man slid under and got closer. The man jumped to the landing of another building. The intruder continued, dropping down to another ledge on the outside of the building and sprinted down the length of the building. Jonathan kept up. The man dropped to another landing and knocked down the door, sprinting through.

Jonathan caught up to him as he was pressing quickly for an elevator. As he turned to Jonathan he swung. Jonathan ducked under it and rose with a back hand to the face. As the man spun, Jonathan grabbed him around the neck with his arm and flipped him over his back. The man landed face down with a grunt.

Jonathan picked him up quickly by the neck and slammed him against the wall.

"What were you doing there?" he questioned.

The man said nothing but looked down at Jonathan as Jonathan held him up. Jonathan looked at him. "No answer?"

The man still refused to respond. Jonathan sighed. He kneed the man in the stomach, causing him to bend over and then slammed his head into the wall. He picked the man up by his neck again.

"Answers. Now. What were you doing there?"

The man coughed. "I'm not telling you anything."

The elevator dinged as it opened. Jonathan looked in its direction. The man took the opportunity to hit Jonathan and duck into the empty elevator. Jonathan followed behind him and put his hand between the closing elevator doors, causing the doors to reopen as their safety mechanism activated.

The man kicked at Jonathan. He grabbed his foot and pushed him back in the elevator. Jonathan rushed into the elevator and deflected the man's wild attack. The elevator door closed and the elevator began its ascent. A few of Jonathan's blows were well received with effective blocks and countered with efficiency. The man had been caught off guard at first but he was ready now. Jonathan knew for sure that he was an _Icarus_.

Jonathan caught one of the man's attacks, and slammed him into the wall of the elevator. He wrung his arm behind his back and pressed against him, keeping him pinned.

"Tell me what you were doing at that apartment!"

The man grunted in response. Jonathan pulled the man off the wall, keeping his arm in his grasp and slammed him into the opposite wall and kicked him in the abdomen. The man slumped to the ground, having difficulty breathing.

Jonathan kneed the man in the face. "I won't ask again. What were you doing in the apartment?"

The man grunted. "I was told to go there and look for something."

"Look for what?"

The man hesitated for a moment. Jonathan punched him in the face.

"Ahh! The hard drive!"

"What's on it."

"I don't know."

"What's on it!" Jonathan shouted.

"I don't know!"

"What were you supposed to do once you had it."

"I can't tell you."

The door to the elevator opened to a hallway leading to another door out of the building. Jonathan picked the man up by the back of his shirt and dragged him down the hallway. Avoiding the camera above the door, he dragged the man across to the edge.

"Where were you supposed to take the drive?"

"I can't tell…," he stuttered.

Jonathan dragged him to the edge. "Where!"

"Michael Reese!"

"Reese?"

"Yeah. He keeps tabs on some Runners for Callaghan. Works construction."

"I see."

"There. I told you what you want to know. Now let me go."

Jonathan dragged him up by the collar. "You know what I look like."

"What? No!"

Jonathan pushed the man over the edge of the building. Jonathan heard something clatter to the ground and looked at it. It did not take long for him to figure out what it was as he heard a helicopter incoming and police cars closing in around the building. It had been pressed before he had pushed the other man off the building; an emergency button. It did not have any kind of microphone so he did not need to be worried.

He turned and bolted when he saw the chopper rounding a building ahead. He jumped the gap quickly and sprinted, rounding the side of the building. He jumped to another building that met the corner of the one he was on. The space was too tight for the helicopter to fit and it turned and went around, giving Jonathan a few seconds before it sighted him again.

He climbed onto the large AC unit and wall ran the wall it was next to, pushed off and swung on one of the poles the opposite building had extending from it. He swung and landed on the fire escape to the building. He sprinted across the fire escape and climbed onto the lower roof of the building. He turned and sprinted to the right when he saw the helicopter emerge from the other side of the building and began opening fire. Jonathan had a problem knowing that despite their terrible aim, on a full roof they would eventually hit him.

He jumped, landing on another platform of the building and rolled. He ran, drifting farther to the right as he did, using the structures on the roof for cover from the helicopter. He ran through a door at the end of a large roof and made it through just before the door was turned to splinters.

He smashed through another door and ran down a hallway. Spotting a vent above him, he wall ran and jumped, barely catching the vent. He climbed into it and began to crawl through the vent prone. He came to another vent grill above another room. Removing the grill he used his hands and flipped out then released to drop quietly onto the ground.

He crouched and looked around. Seeing nothing, he exited the room and ran down the hallway. He was coming to a corner when the elevator in the corner opened and two police stepped out. The first cop turned to Jonathan. Jonathan grabbed the gun out of his hands and planted his foot in the man's knee, bending it in the other direction with a sick crack and then punched him in the face with the hand holding the gun. As the incapacitated cop went down, Jonathan flipped the gun in his hand and shot the other cop quickly between the eyes.

For a moment, Jonathan's mind flashed to the moment he first shot someone in such a manner. He shook it off and grabbed the cops' extra clips, totaling three. He put them on the inside of his jacket and removed his shades and activated them. Police chatter lit up his ears as he turned and began running again.

"Shots fired, shots fired," he heard in his ear. Chances were there were a few more police on this floor. He ran through a door and came into an office area, complete with high cubicles and a maze of aisles.

"We're on the tenth floor in the offices in the southwest corner of the building."

Jonathan sighed. They were in the same room as him. He did not know how many there were and would have preferred to avoid conflict. He knew that if he could get out of the building as quietly as possible he could at least make it back outside and lose the chopper.

He moved into the corner slowly and reached up and unplugged the camera.

"We just lost the camera in the northwest corner."

Jonathan crouched and moved across one of the aisles and ducked into a cubicle. He heard a set of footsteps coming towards him. Putting on the gun's safety and holstering it in his belt, he crouched waiting. He peeked from behind the opening to the cubicle and saw two policemen move towards the cubicle opposite the camera.

Jonathan pulled his scarf up and continued watching. Jonathan switched to the opposite side of the opening to the cubicle and listened. One of the police went back down the aisle the came while one headed in Jonathan's direction. The gun entered and Jonathan grabbed the gun with his right hand and pulled the police in and spun while holding his gun and elbowed the police in the back of the head. The cop slumped to the carpet floor with a soft thud. Jonathan dropped the gun.

Jonathan ducked out and went to the neighboring cubicle. The other police returned and when he heard the footsteps stop he moved. He approached the police from behind while he was pulling his radio and checking his comrade's pulse. Jonathan grabbed the crouched cop and pulled him onto his back then give him a heavy punch to the face, knocking him out cold.

Jonathan headed up the cubicle the police had come from and stopped at the corner. After checking to make sure it was safe he started moving slowly down the hallway. He ducked into a cubicle when he saw a cop start to come from the intersection ahead. The footsteps he heard coming up were slow and stopped occasionally. Jonathan guessed this one, no… two were checking the cubicles as they moved.

Jonathan cursed himself for a moment and wished he had at least armed himself but he had not anticipated that they would check the apartment again.

He heard the footsteps closer now. They stopped, moved again. Here. A gun came around the corner. Jonathan moved swiftly. He reached out and grabbed the cop's gun, punching him in the face as he did so. He disarmed him and then kicked him into the aisle into his partner.

The other cop, tried to sidestep his partner but was hit as the man stumbled backwards into the opposite cubicle. Jonathan moved quickly again. He grabbed the other cop's gun and with one swift movement yanked it from his grasp. He threw it behind him and used his other hand to grab the cop's wrist. He swung it up and around, spinning the cop. He yanked pushed his palm into the cop's shoulder blade and yanked quickly and dislocated it. He then spun around in front of the cop, while still keeping the arm in his grasp and flipped him onto his comrade, who was still dazed from hitting his head on the desk in the cubicle.

Jonathan bolted and slid into a cubicle at the end of the aisle where it split off to the left and right. Two cops ran around the corner and went to where Jonathan had dealt with the two other police. Jonathan slowly and quietly walked out from his hiding spot and continued to the other side of the building.

He entered the office at the end and looked around. He entered the vent above him along the wall with the door and crouch-walked through. He came to a drop and dropped down pressing into the walls to slow his descent. He landed and headed forward. He exited onto another floor in a conference room. He exited the room and moved through more cubicles. An office to his right showed the roof of the building across from the one he was in.

He moved to the window and opened it. Outside a pipe greeted him attached to the wall. He climbed out and grabbed it. He climbed up a bit and then jumped off the pipe onto the other roof. He turned and sprinted away, making his escape.

* * *

Merc sat in his lair, monitoring the Blues traffic. Their new friend's girlfriend had fallen asleep on the couch. Faith sat with her cards as always, having just returned from a couple runs. Across from him sat Kate, typing away and monitoring more Blues comms.

A few moments ago, Blues traffic had spiked in Arlington but it had since died away, with talks of a Runner in the area persisting. As if on cue, Jonathan dropped into the cooling tower.

"Hey kid. You the one that caused that trouble in Arlington?"

Jonathan looked over and saw Laura sleeping on the couch. He shook his head a moment with a smile.

"Yeah. Made a trip to my sister's apartment. I didn't expect _Icarus_ to go back and check the place?"

"You wanna share what this is all about?"

Jonathan reached into his jacket and pulled out the hard drive. "This. I had gotten it from a client just before he… died, but I don't know what's on it. I had given it to my sister since I knew she would have more time to deal with it than I would."

Both Jonathan and Merc looked at Laura as she stretched on the couch then sat up.

"Jonathan."

"Hey."

"Where've you been?"

"Went by my sister's."

"Why?"

"To look for this." He showed her the hard drive.

"What made you stop by here?" Merc inquired.

"I came to ask you guys something."

"What?"

"You guys ever do work for a guy named Michael Reese?"

"Yeah I know him. Construction right?"

"Yeah. Looks like we have a mutual client and trickster then."

"What do you mean?" Faith asked.

Jonathan then proceeded to tell them what the Icarus Runner had told him.

"Michael's one of Callaghan's moles?" Merc asked.

"I was always wondered why I was so cautious with him. Met the man once. Kept my face hidden. After that, I always called him to tell him where I left his drop."

"Smart kid."

"Wait a sec…," Faith started. "Merc, wasn't Collin delivering something for Reese?"


End file.
